St. John Baptist Church
ttt
480 Bainbridge Street t Brooklyn, NY 11233
Phone (718) 452-0949 t sjbcbkyn@aol.com
Born in Perry,
GA, The Rev. S. Wayne Stokeling was called to preach at the age of seven. He served the Lord at Greater Union Baptist
Church, where he was youth minister and soon became a guiding force at area
revivals for youth and adults alike.
Pastor of St.
John Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY, since 1986, Rev. Stokeling is an
outstanding community activist. He led
his congregation in the development of Project Return, a narcotics and alcohol
abuse program; a Men’s Fellowship, which seeks to address the needs of the
family; New York’s first Universal Sisters, a national women’s health
conference; and programs for AIDS counseling, after-school and SAT tutoring,
GED classes and a variety of other self-help and educational projects. A long-term children’s advocate, Pastor
Stokeling organized a mentoring program, Mind
Your Mentoring, which has taken young, Black urban professionals into New
York public schools since 1993. In
addition, he and his Neighborhood Prayer Watch spearhead Someone Is Praying
for Me at St. John Baptist Church, monthly services to strengthen youth
through prayer. He also sponsored the construction of a 178-unit apartment
complex next to his church.
Prior to being
called to St. John, Rev. Stokeling served as pastor of Friendship Baptist
Church in Bowling Green, KY, and Friendship Baptist Church in Henderson, GA. A
member of the Progressive Baptist State Convention, he serves as a lecturer on
church history for this group as well as for the Empire State Baptist
Convention and serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Baptist
Convention. Dr. Stokeling has preached
and lectured around the world, including France, England, Trinidad and parts of
Africa. He frequently returns to Georgia
where he serves as lecturer to the ministers of the Georgia State Baptist
Convention and preaches across the state.
An academician as well as a theologian, Rev. Stokeling received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Mercer University in Macon, GA; a Master’s Degree in Management and Finance from Georgia State; and an MBA from New York University. Currently, Rev. Stokeling is pursuing post-graduate studies at the Seminary of the East in New York. He also attended the Chandler School of Theology of Emory University in Atlanta, the London School of Economics and the Theological Seminary at Vanderbilt University. Rev. Stokeling has received numerous awards and honors including honorary doctorate degrees from Luther Rice Seminary in Jacksonville, FL; Fitzgerald Theological Seminary in Fitzgerald, GA; and the Macon School of Theology.
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St. John Baptist Church
· He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Mercer University in Macon, GA … a Master’s Degree in Management and Finance from Georgia State University … and an MBA from New York University.
· He studied at the Chandler School of Theology of Emory University … the London School of Economics … and the Theological Seminary at Vanderbilt University. He has received many honors including honorary doctorates from Luther Rice Seminary in Jacksonville, FL … Fitzgerald Theological Seminary in Fitzgerald, GA … and the Macon School of Theology.